Hawks Acknowledge Keeper Holland as Best in the NCAA
November 29, 2006

Holland protecting her teammates and the Hawks goal against Ajax 7/ 15/06

The Nighthawks boast one of the best Trio of Keepers (Erica Holland, Petra Kowalski and Sarah Walker) in the Nation but would like to acknowledge the stellar performance of Stanford Keeper Erica Holland as the very best in the NCAA

San Francisco, CA - Erica Holland, a junior Human Biology major at Stanford and two year Nighthawks player, showed tremendous effort this season for Stanford, leading them up to the Third Round of the 2006 Women's College Cup and earning 1st place in the Pac 10 in both save percentage and goals-against average (see Pacific-10 stats box below). Since earning the starting goalkeeper job for Stanford against Arizona, Erica has posted six shutouts and collected 29 saves. She allowed just two goals in 13 appearances this season.

When asked about her upcoming NCAA First and Second Rounds, she had this to say, "For the tournament, it's good because we're close to home. Nevada is a good team though. They won their conference tournament, their championship, so I think it will be a good battle for us. It's the first time they're in the tournament, so they're going to come out fighting. I just think we need to go out there and step up and do what we need to do to move on. Defensively, we just need to be sharp and be focused the entire game. We know what to do. We know how to do it. We've been doing it the entire season. All of our defensive players are really, really good.

Sometimes, we'll have mental lapses though and we need to just make sure those don't happen in the tournament. That comes from preparation before the game, making sure you get enough sleep and are well-fueled. Offensively, I feel like we just need to go for it and take more risks in the offensive third. We need to be less passive and more aggressive. We just need to let everything out on the field and we'll get the goals."

Erica and Stanford did get the goals in the first and second rounds, defeating Nevada 2-1 in the first round and then beating USC 2-0 in the second round. Unfortunately, although Erica and her team held Clemson scoreless for the entire 90 minutes plus 30 minutes of overtime in the third round game, Stanford did not score either and ultimately they lost to Clemson in a tense 4-2 shootout.

Clemson went on to lose to Florida State 2-1 in the quarterfinals. Florida will play Notre Dame in the Division 1 NCAA semi-finals this coming Friday at North Carolina State University. Click here to get tickets or click here to see or hear it live.

Though the Nighthawks are sad to see Holland and her Cardinals come home without a trophy, they are looking forward to seeing Erica back on the field with the Hawks other top keepers; Petra Kowalski, a 2005 graduate of Claremont-McKenna and Sarah Walker, a 2004 graduate of Yale. Petra and Sarah have been sharing the goal for the Nighthawks in the Fall Golden Gate Women's Soccer League (GGWSL), tying with the SF Rangers for first place in Goals Against with only 5 goals in 9 games. They hope to hold top honors alone after the last game of the season against the Vikings at Kezar this coming Saturday.

Erica Holland   Joined Nighthawks in: 2005   Hometown: Lafayette, CA Position: GK School: Stanford Degree/Major: Human Bio/Pre-med Year of Graduation: 2008 Profession: Student/Coach Honors: High School: Cal-North State Team '02-'03 ... Pool player for the Regional ODP team ... Three-year letter winner.Member of the 2003 CIF State Champion cross country team ... Named to the Honor Roll in each of her four years ... Selected as the 2002-03 Outstanding Junior Girl Undergraduate. College: Shared starting role during the Pac-10 season ... Recorded a career-high eight saves at Arizona State and first shutout of her collegiate career ... Added her second shutout against fourth-ranked UCLA. Holland at Stanford -- 2005: Shared the starting role during the Pac-10 season ... Recorded a career-high eight saves at Arizona State, as she notched her first shutout of her collegiate career ... Added her second shutout against fourth-ranked UCLA ... Also started at Navy ... Owns a 0.59 goals-against average this season in 614 minutes in the net this season. 2004: Appeared in three games, backing up starting keeper Nicole Barnhart ... Holds a 0.00 goals-against average in 25 minutes in the net ... Saw nine minutes of action in the season opener against Utah ... Played 15 minutes against Denver at the Santa Clara Classic ... Picked up her first collegiate save against the Pioneers ... Closed out the last 36 seconds at UCLA. High School: Goalkeeper for the Northern California State Team from 2002-2003 ... Also a pool player for the Regional ODP team ... Honored as the State Team Player four-straight years ... Also named the 2002 Regional Pool Player ... A three-year letterwinner at College Park in soccer ... Earned four letters in cross country and a member of the 2003 CIF State Champion cross country team ... Named to the Honor Roll in each of her four years ... Recipient of the Math, Spanish, P.E., English, Science and History Department Awards ... Received the 2004 social studies plaque ... Selected as the 2002-03 Outstanding Junior Girl Undergraduate at College Park. Personal: Born March 31, 1986 ... Daughter of David and Adrienne Holland ... Has an older sister, Andrea, and a younger brother, Will ... Majoring in human biology with aspirations to become an orthopedic surgeon. Holland's Year-by-Year Statistics Year GP GS Min. Sv GA GAA SO 2004 3 0 25 1 0 0.00 0 2005 8 6 614 29 4 0.59 2 2006 13 - 964 29 2 0.19 - Last Updated: 8/9/06 FAVORITES Nickname: America Hobby/Interest: Spending time with my family and firends,playing any sport Sports Figure : Nicole Barnhart Inspiration: My Parents Book: Harry Potter Movie: Good Will Hunting Animal: Lemur Possession: Secret Nighthawk Decoder Ring Food: Avocado Vacation: Greece Sports Moment: 1980 Winter Olympics, USA Men's Hockey victory over USSR Soccer Team: USA of course

Petra Kowalski   Joined Nighthawks in: 2006   Hometown: Boulder Colorado Position: GK School: Claremont-McKenna Degree/Major: BA Government Year of Graduation: 2005 Profession: undeclared Honors: HS,4 year letter, rookie of the year, 2 yr mvp, 2 yr first team all conferenceCollege Honors: Scholar-Athlete (2005); Hank A. Kreiger Award (2005); Co-Captain (2004, 2003); 1st Team All-Conference (2004, 2002); 2nd Team All-Conference (2003); NCAA Regional All-American (2004); 2nd Team NCAA Regional All-American (2003, 2002); NCAA Scholar All-Region (2004); MVP (2002); Rookie of the year (2001) FAVORITES Nickname: Peeks Hobby/Interest: Golf and....others Sports Figure : Michelle Wie Inspiration: "Trust your swing" Book: Mind Gym Movie: Herbie (the original and "Fully Loaded") Animal: Dog Possession: Clifford the big red dog Food: peanut butter (Jif Extra Crunchy) Vacation: Home to Colorado Sports Moment: Winning the conference championship and a trip to NCAA regionals on PKs. Soccer Team: CMS Athenas

Sarah Walker Joined Nighthawks in: 2006   Hometown: Alameda, CA Position: GK School: Yale Year of Graduation: 2004 Honors: Walker, the Yale 2004 team captain, started all 18 games in 2004 and all 17 games in goal the year before after serving as the backup in her first two years. Her 82 saves in 2003 tied for the most in the Ivy League and she was second in the league in shutouts with five and third in goals against average (0.78). For her efforts, she was named honorable mention All-Ivy. Her goals against average was the second best in a season in school history. Against Harvard, she made a career-high 11 saves in a scoreless tie. At the ECAC Cape Cod Classic she had shutout victories against both Georgetown and Loyola and was named the ECAC Goalie of the Week. In addition, she was named Academic All-Ivy. Her first career shutout came against Wagner in her sophomore year. In her rookie year, her top performance came against Brown when she stopped three shots. First Team All-Ivy 2004. At Alameda High School, Walker was a two-time MVP and a four-time all-league selection. Walker’s Yale Statistics Year GP W-L-T Min. Sv GA Sv% GAA ShO 2001 5 1-1-0 160 5 5 .500 2.82 0 2002 5 1-0-0 197 4 1 .800 0.46 1 2003 17 8-6-1 1529 82 17 .828 0.78 5 2004 18 12-5-0 1498 79 15 .840 0.90 7